Michael Ball (footballer)

Michael John Ball (born 2 October 1979) is an English former professional footballer who played as a left back.

For other people with the same name, see Michael Ball (disambiguation).

Michael Ball
Ball warming up for Leicester City in 2011
Personal information
Full name Michael John Ball[1]
Date of birth (1979-10-02) 2 October 1979[2]
Place of birth Liverpool, England
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[3]
Position(s) Left back[1]
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1996–2001 Everton 121 (8)
2001–2005 Rangers 55 (3)
2005–2007 PSV Eindhoven 11 (2)
2007–2009 Manchester City 48 (2)
2011–2012 Leicester City 0 (0)
Total 235 (15)
National team
2001 England 1 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Ball started his professional career at Everton, making his debut as a 17-year-old in 1997. He was capped by the England national team in 2001. Ball joined Rangers in the 2001 close season in a club record £6.5 million transfer. In the 2004–05 season, Ball won Scottish Premier League and Scottish League Cup medals with Rangers.

Before the start of the 2005–06 season, Ball was signed by PSV Eindhoven. He spent one and a half seasons with the club, winning the Dutch Eredivisie. Ball was sold to Manchester City in 2007. He signed for Leicester City, where his career was cut short due to a recurrence of his knee injury.

Club career

Everton (1996–2001)

Ball was born in Liverpool, Merseyside.[3] As a schoolboy he was part of the Liverpool youth system, playing alongside Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard.[4] From 1994 to 1996 he attended The Football Association's National School at Lilleshall, before joining Everton.[5] He played his first senior match in April 1997 as a substitute against Tottenham Hotspur, and made his first start a week later at West Ham United.[6] Ball developed into an impressive player equally adept at both centre back and his main position, left back. His solid performances for Everton led to an England national team call-up to Sven-Göran Eriksson's first England squad for a friendly against Spain in February 2001. Ball was named as a substitute, and made his debut when he replaced Chris Powell at half-time.[7]

Rangers (2001–2005)

In 2001, he was allowed to leave Everton, primarily due to the club's financial problems. Although he had offers from Premier League clubs, he opted for a lucrative deal with Scottish Premier League (SPL) club Rangers and moved to Glasgow in a £6.5 million deal. His first Old Firm match ended in controversy when he swore at Rangers manager Dick Advocaat after being substituted, resulting in a £10,000 fine.[8] He scored his first Rangers goal in the UEFA Cup against Dynamo Moscow.[9] In December 2001, after his eleventh Rangers appearance, he suffered medial ligament damage which kept him sidelined for 18 months, including the entire 2002–03 season. Upon his return to fitness he regained his place in the team, becoming a first-team regular in the 2003–04 season, scoring his first league goal against Dundee.[10] He also won the Player of the Month award in his first month back.

Ball's transfer to Rangers included instalments payable after fixed numbers of appearances. As Ball approached 60 appearances Rangers became reluctant to play him, as doing so would trigger a £500,000 payment to Everton.[11] As a result, Ball played only four matches in the first four months of the 2004–05 season. The scenario was eventually resolved in December 2004 when negotiations involving the player and the two clubs reached an undisclosed agreement.[12] With the contractual wrangling resolved, Ball returned to the first team, and won a Scottish League Cup medal and an SPL medal as Rangers won the 2004–05 title.

PSV Eindhoven (2005–2007)

In the 2005 close season, Rangers wished to remove the higher earners from their wage bill, so Ball moved to Dutch Eredivisie club PSV Eindhoven for a fee of £500,000, signing a two-year contract. Ball struggled with injury and fitness issues during his time in the Netherlands. However, he went on to win the Eredivisie title and also reached the final of the KNVB Cup in 2006, losing 1–0 to Ajax in Rotterdam.

Manchester City (2007–2009)
Ball playing for Manchester City in 2007

He joined Manchester City on 31 January 2007 after impressing on a week-long trial, on a six-month contract for a nominal fee. He made his debut ten days later against Portsmouth, and scored his first goal for the club in an FA Cup Fifth Round match against Preston North End on 18 February.[13] He was often used as third-choice captain, when either Richard Dunne (captain) or Micah Richards (vice-captain) were unavailable. On 5 May 2007, in a 1–0 home defeat to Manchester United, he stamped on Cristiano Ronaldo's stomach. This was missed by the referee, and he was subsequently banned for three matches.

On 24 August 2008, Ball was given the captain's armband in the 46th minute after stand in captain Richards was knocked out in a challenge with a teammate and substituted during a game against West Ham United. City went on to score three goals and win the game 3–0.

At the end of January 2009 Ball had a knee operation on his left patella tendon, which kept him out of action for nine months. On 1 July 2009, he was released by Manchester City as his contract expired.[14]

Free agent

In January 2010, Ball was reported to be training with Wigan Athletic and to be regaining match fitness.[15] However, no contract was reported as having been offered. Subsequently, in September 2010 Ball was reported as training with Blackpool, but again no contract resulted.[16]

Leicester City (2011–2012)

Ball was on trial with Leicester City in July 2011, travelling on their pre-season tour of Sweden and Austria.[17] He signed a one-year contract on 8 August 2011,[18] after featuring in six pre-season friendlies.[17] Ball made his competitive debut in a 4–1 win over Rotherham in the League Cup first round on 9 August 2011.[19] Ball made three appearances for Leicester, all in the League Cup, and left the club on 24 January 2012 after his contract was terminated.[20]

International career

In February 2001, he made his only appearance for England in a friendly against Spain,[21] coming on as a half-time substitute for Chris Powell.[22]

Career statistics
Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
SeasonClubLeague AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
England League FA Cup League Cup Europe Total
1996–97EvertonPremier League5050
1997–982511020281
1998–993733040443
1999–002512020291
2000–012932020333
Scotland League Scottish Cup League Cup Europe Total
2001–02RangersScottish Premier League801021111
2002–0300
2003–04321201080431
2004–051402020180
2005–06202040
Netherlands League KNVB Cup League Cup Europe Total
2005–06PSV EindhovenEredivisie11010120
2006–0700
England League FA Cup League Cup Europe Total
2006–07Manchester CityPremier League12021141
2007–082803040350
2008–0980101040140
2011–12Leicester CityChampionship000030--30
Total England 16981411802019
Scotland 5612040141762
Netherlands 11010120
Career total 236917122014128911

Honours

Rangers

PSV Eindhoven

References
  1. "Michael Ball". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  2. Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2009). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2009–10. Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing. p. 30. ISBN 978-1-84596-474-0.
  3. "Michael Ball". 11v11.com. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  4. "I won't be a one-cap wonder". The Football Association. 16 April 2003. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
  5. Barclay, Patrick (9 April 2006). "Having a Ball in Holland". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
  6. "Michael Ball". ToffeeWeb. Archived from the original on 22 February 2007. Retrieved 2 April 2007.
  7. "Sven's England off to winning start". BBC Sport. 28 February 2001. Retrieved 2 April 2007.
  8. "Ball & pain; Michael Grant speaks to the forgotten Rangers defender". Sunday Herald. 13 October 2002. Retrieved 2 April 2007.
  9. "Shine taken off Gers win". BBC Sport. 18 October 2001. Retrieved 29 December 2009.
  10. "Dundee 0–2 Rangers". BBC Sport. 28 December 2003. Retrieved 29 December 2009.
  11. "Ball remains in Ibrox limbo". BBC Sport. 7 October 2004. Retrieved 2 April 2007.
  12. "Ball gets all-clear to stay at Rangers". The Scotsman. 31 December 2004. Archived from the original on 9 December 2007. Retrieved 2 April 2007.
  13. Mercer, Nathan (18 February 2007). "Preston 1–3 Man City". BBC Sport. Retrieved 3 November 2009.
  14. "Man City allow quartet to leave". BBC Sport. 1 July 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
  15. "Wigan lifeline for lifelong Evertonian Michael Ball". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
  16. "Blackpool looking to sign free agents Michael Ball and Marlon Harewood". Goal.com. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
  17. "Ball agrees City deal". Leicester City F.C. 8 August 2011. Archived from the original on 22 April 2012. Retrieved 9 August 2011.
  18. "Leicester City confirm one-year deal for Michael Ball". BBC Sport. 9 August 2011. Retrieved 9 August 2011.
  19. "Rotherham 1–4 Leicester". BBC Sport. 9 August 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  20. "Leicester City sack Michael Ball after defender is fined £6,000 for homophobic tweet by Football Association". Daily Telegraph. 24 January 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  21. Ogden, Mark (17 February 2007). "Ball game for City's testing trip to Preston". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
  22. "2001 Matches: Europe (January – June)". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
  23. "Rangers 5–1 Motherwell". BBC Sport. 20 March 2005. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
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